It has been proposed heretofore to produce an automotive steering wheel by conventional filament winding techniques. In doing so, the art has found that, even though the winding pattern is completely random, the filaments, during winding, become pulled or separated into groups, which groups are connected only, if at all, by large unreinforced areas of binder. To my knowledge, there has been no practical way of providing transverse reinforcement in a filament winding molds for such complicated shapes. Further, problems have existed in bonding the parallel filaments to metal hubs; problems have existed in properly filling out cavities; and problems have existed in preventing fiber separation in spokes. One of the most troubling areas occurs where spokes connect to the outer rim of the wheel. When filaments are pulled down the spoke and around the rim, they are pulled out of a random interlock with the fibers proceeding in the opposite direction; so that the fibers turning clockwise are separated and grouped from the fibers going counterclockwise, thereby leaving only binder connecting the two separate groups. What is more, air bubbles may be drawn into the binder as the fibers are pulled into the separate groups thereby leaving inferior air laden binder between the two groups. A still further problem that occurs is that any reinforcement materials that are placed in prior art molds are pulled out of position by strand that is pulled into position during the filament winding process.
An object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved method of making filament wound wheels wherein an improved positioning of the filament wrappings relative to each other is achieved, and the problem of air entrained in the binder is eliminated.
Another object is the provision of a new and improved method of changing the position of filaments after being wound into a wrapped position without materially relaxing the filaments and without reducing the strength of the final product.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved method of making filament wound spoked steering wheels wherein reinforcement is first placed in a mold and the filament winding then accomplished without pulling the reinforcement out of position; and while at the same time distributing the filaments uniformly through out the filament winding mold.
A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved filament winding mold which permits the above process objectives to be carried out.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification.